My Stunning Success


This morning I compressed a week’s worth of self revealing statements and candidly bestowed them upon my dear husband as he was gulping down his last bites of breakfast while running out the door.  Unfortunately, my disappointments, fears and concerns, which might have sounded okay with a few casual remarks thrown in between them, must have felt like a bite of food with way too much salt based on the look that came over his face. 
So I worry too much, and I tend to look on the “but this could reasonably and possible happen” side rather than the bright side.  Don’t go worrying about me now because, as usual, just talking about it to someone who isn’t concerned at all was very helpful.  But now that you know me better, you might be surprised by the feelings that came over me while viewing my dilapidated garden later that day.

NO MEANS YES
The way I see it, every time you say no to one thing you say yes to another.  All of those weeds and broken water lines mean YES to many other important things that take time,  like teaching my 16 year old to drive a manual transmission (if you could only see my face), watching pet turtles navigate around an obstacle at eye level with my youngest, animal loving child,  or putting together the details of a graduation trip for my recent high school graduate.  Priorities change based on the ebb and flow of life.  You see, a dear friend of mine is lucky enough to have her own mother tending to the family garden for hours each day.  She has created a miniature, organic vegetable paradise that makes me green with envy. (See http://otlane.blogspot.com/ for pictures.) But the truth is, for this season of life I’m just tending to a different kind of garden and I am at peace with that.

A NON-NEGOTIABLE PRIORITY
I believe that some priorities are negotiable, like investing your time in a garden or not, but tending to your health should always be an important priority!  In search of good quality food that I haven’t raised myself, I’ve grown to love the farmer’s market.  I can’t wait to go this weekend and get my fresh arugula, cage free brown eggs, just picked, local strawberries, and spinach.  I saved that for last because that is what I want to look at a little more closely today…spinach.

SPINACH BENEFITS
Did you know that a cup of spinach will give you almost 200% or your RDA for bone strengthening vitamin K?  (It jumps to 1000% if you boil it for a minute.) (1)
And that is only the beginning for spinach, although if you think about it, if your own bones were brittle and weak then spinach at a few dollars a bunch would seem like gold to you.  Do they need more advertising?

Spinach also lowers levels of homocysteine.  High levels of homocysteine in the blood mean a greater danger of hardening of the arteries, leading to stroke and coronary heart disease. As you can see, the same generous amounts of folate in spinach which prevent spinal deformities in newborns is healing to our arteries as well. (2)

Starting to see the light? “Two of the carotenoids that are especially plentiful in spinach are lutein and zeaxanthin, the primary antioxidants in several regions of the eye, including the retina and the macula.” (3) And I haven’t even gotten to fiber, calcium, magnesium and vitamin C so richly provided by the humble spinach leaves.

HOW TO GET SOME IN YOUR DIET THIS WEEK
This week’s menu gives you three opportunities to enjoy generous portions of spinach.  Mix spinach with other salad greens or have it alone with Chicken Corn Salad or in the greens nest of Tuna Salad NicoisePesto Hummus Sandwiches can also be topped of with julienned spinach as well as any other favorite dark green.

I see my non-garden as a successful placing of priorities.  Of all the worthy things that could top your priority list, don’t forget to include “tending to your health” somewhere in the lead so that you have energy and strength do all the rest!

 

molly's avatar

Molly

(1) & (3)  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2007/09/13/vitamin-k-linked-to-fewer-varicose-veins-better-vascular-health.aspx
(2)  http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/06/07/5-foods-that-can-save-your-life/#ixzz1PZej0DPF